6/27/2001 @ 5:13PM

News Scan P.M.: June 27, 2001

The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter-percentage point and said it was poised to make further cuts if the economy did not improve. The Fed’s sixth reduction this year reduced the federal funds rate to 3.75%, its lowest level since the early 1990s.

Poultry company
Tyson Foods
has agreed to buy
IBP
for $2.7 billion in cash and stock, about 16% less than the company originally offered to buy the beef and pork processor. If the deal goes through this time, it will create the biggest American meat company. The shrunken price is a result of the reduction of Tyson’s stock over the past year. The decision comes after a Delaware judge said Tyson had to go through with its acquisition of IBP. Tyson had backed off from its first planned takeover of IBP in March, claiming breaches of the contract. More…

Cellular phone company
Sprint PCS Group
inked contracts with
Lucent Technologies
and
Nortel Networks
to provide it with wireless telephone equipment. Both deals are worth $1 billion each over three years. More…

Boutros
Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
never had it so good.
Kofi
Annan
Kofi Annan
won a unanimous vote by the 15-member Security Council to serve another term as United Nations Secretary- General. The U.N.’s General Assembly, composed of 189 members, will vote later this week. Annan, a 63-year-old native of Ghana, faced no opposition in his re-election. The smooth reappointment process is a far cry from the acrimony associated with former U.N. head Ghali five years ago, when the U.S. vociferously opposed extending his leadership.

Online auction company
eBay
stopped the auction of an Internet address named after
Andrea
Yates
Andrea Yates
, the Texas woman accused of drowning her five children, according to The Associated Press. Bids for AndreaPiaYates.com began at half a million dollars and drew six offers before eBay pulled the plug on the auction. EBay reportedly said the proposed sale broke eBay’s policy of putting objects associated with murder on the block. Yates, 36, is charged with capital murder in the deaths.

How’s Marv Albert’s Spanish? National Basketball Association squad the Miami Heat has filed a lawsuit against its local television broadcaster to prevent its new management from adopting a Spanish-language format. Spanish-language network
Univision
became the station’s owner in June and has said it will switch to all-Spanish programming next year, although it will continue televising Heat games in English. The Heat argues that that violates its contract. The two parties may not have to deal with each other for much longer, as the station has said it would drop the Heat games and the team says it is looking for a new TV partner.

News items can be submitted to Davide Dukcevich at ddukcevich@forbes.net or by calling him at (212) 366-8927.